Latest news with #Sandberg
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Meta investors, Zuckerberg reach settlement to end $8 billion trial over Facebook privacy violations
Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms agreed on Thursday to settle claims seeking $8 billion for the damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users' privacy, a lawyer for the shareholders told a Delaware judge on Thursday. The parties did not disclose details of the settlement and defense lawyers did not address the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery. McCormick adjourned the trial just as it was to enter its second day and she congratulated the parties. The plaintiffs' lawyer, Sam Closic, said the agreement just came together quickly. Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, a defendant in the trial and a Meta director, was scheduled to testify on Thursday. Shareholders of Meta sued Zuckerberg, Andreessen and other former company officials including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in hopes of holding them liable for billions of dollars in fines and legal costs the company paid in recent years. The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 after finding that it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement with the regulator to protect users' data. The shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. The defendants denied the allegations, which they called 'extreme claims.' Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021. The company was not a defendant and declined to comment. On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019. A lawyer for the defendants declined to comment. 'This settlement may bring relief to the parties involved, but it's a missed opportunity for public accountability,' said Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers. Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand on Monday and Sandberg on Wednesday. The trial was scheduled to run through the end of next week. The case was also expected to include testimony from former Facebook board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies co-founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix. By settling, Zuckerberg and other defendants avoid having to answer probing questions under oath. Sandberg was found during the litigation to have deleted what were likely her most sensitive emails and she was sanctioned, making it harder for her to tell her side of the story in court. The settlement allows plaintiffs to avoid trying a very difficult case. Meta investors alleged that former and current board members completely failed to oversee the company's compliance with the 2012 FTC agreement. The lawsuit also claimed that Zuckerberg and Sandberg knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting operation. The oversight allegations are known as Caremark claims, considered the most difficult to prove under Delaware corporate law. It was the first time Caremark claims went to trial, and even if the plaintiffs had gotten a judgment in their favor, the case would have been appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court. That court has reversed major shareholder victories in recent years. The case followed revelations that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump's successful U.S. presidential campaign in 2016. Those revelations led to the FTC fine, which was a record at the time. On Wednesday, an expert witness for the plaintiffs testified about what he called 'gaps and weaknesses' in Facebook's privacy policies but would not say if the company violated the 2012 agreement that Facebook reached with the FTC. Jeffrey Zients, a former board member, testified on Wednesday that the company did not agree to the FTC fine to spare Zuckerberg legal liability, as shareholders alleged. The defendants' legal team also showed the court notes that Zients had taken when he was on the board that seemed to show he was urging the board to make user privacy a top priority, which would undercut plaintiffs' claims. The trial settlement marks the second time Zuckerberg avoided testifying in the court. In 2017, Facebook abandoned a plan to issue a new class of stock as a way for Zuckerberg to extend his control over the company while selling his shares. The decision came a week before Zuckerberg was expected to testify in the Court of Chancery to defend the stock plan. 'Facebook has successfully remade the 'Cambridge Analytica' scandal about a few bad actors rather than an unraveling of its entire business model of surveillance capitalism and the reciprocal, unbridled sharing of personal data,' Kint said. 'That reckoning is now left unresolved.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Cold case podcaster returns to Ohio to investigate homicide of 8-year-old girl
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) – After recently investigating a homicide in Marysville, a true crime podcaster from Florida has returned to central Ohio to dig into the 2006 killing of an 8-year-old girl. Melissa Sandberg did not expect to come back to Ohio for the second season of her podcast 'Dog with a Bone,' but when she received a tip about the homicide of Mackenzie Branham and read up on the case, she felt compelled to investigate. Driver who stopped on I-71 before exit charged in three-car wreck 'It just really pulled out my heartstrings of this 8-year-old girl still seeking justice,' Sandberg said. In April 2006, Branham died in a fire at her mother's residence in Jeffersonville, which the mother shared with her live-in boyfriend. The blaze was determined to be arson. Both Branham's mother and the boyfriend escaped unharmed. Over the 19 years the case has remained unsolved, Branham's father and community members have raised concerns about the integrity of law enforcement's investigation. A now-deceased sergeant who responded to the fire was the brother-in-law of Branham's mother's boyfriend, and Branham's father has questioned how officers handled pieces of evidence. A 2018 petition even called for the removal of the Fayette County sheriff over the case. 'There were mistakes that happened in Mackenzie's case,' Sandberg said. 'Everyone in the community is aware, the investigating office is aware of mistakes that were made, but I do know that mistakes can be rectified.' Westerville's Antonio's Pizzeria to close after 'irreconcilable differences' with landlord Sandberg has flown to Ohio twice so far to conduct her own investigation. She said she visited the crime scene, along with interviewing the sheriff, a firefighter who responded to the scene, Branham's relatives and community members. She will detail her findings in the second season of 'Dog with a Bone' and plans to publish the first episode in early September. From there, an episode will be released once a week. Before looking into Branham's case, Sandberg investigated another case out of central Ohio. She dug into the homicide of John Burnside, 32, who was found dead in his Marysville home with a plastic bag placed taped around his head in December 1993. This marked the first season of her podcast, which she says has racked up 56,000 listens since its release last September. 'I've always wanted to be a cold case investigator, homicide investigator, and so this is really me able to live out my dream, but more importantly, it's able to give victims a voice,' Sandberg said. After Sandberg began to look into the case and reach out to different law enforcement agencies, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation decided to review Burnside's case. Sandberg provided the information she found to the BCI's Cold Case Unit. The agency told NBC4 it is still reviewing the case. How 'no tax on tips' could help, hurt Ohio workers Prior to starting her podcast, Sandberg examined cold cases for more than three years. More recently, in 2022 and 2023, Sandberg was part of an independent group of investigators who brought new leads to law enforcement in the suspicious death of a West Virginia woman named Judith Petty. While Sandberg spends a lot of her time investigating cold cases, she also has a full-time job in the healthcare industry. 'I work 40 hours a week and then I come home and I investigate, so after long days of work and two kids, I come home and I'm making calls,' Sandberg said. 'I'm interviewing people, I'm writing, I'm recording. It is another full-time job, basically, that you don't get paid for. It's really because you have a drive.' The episodes on Branham's homicide will be released on platforms that stream podcasts, such as Apple and Spotify. Updates on the new season can be found on the podcast's Facebook page. Anyone who has information on Branham's homicide may message Sandberg through the podcast's Facebook, and/or contact the Fayette County Sheriff's Office at 740-335-6170. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
India Today
6 days ago
- Business
- India Today
Meta investors, Zuckerberg settle $8 billion privacy lawsuit over Facebook data violations
The agreement was announced in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Thursday, just before the trial was to resume its second trial, presided over by Judge Kathaleen McCormick, was halted after plaintiffs' lawyer Sam Closic informed the court that a settlement had been reached. Details of the agreement remain confidential, and lawyers for the defence declined to to Reuters, the lawsuit was filed by Meta shareholders who aimed to hold CEO Mark Zuckerberg, venture capitalist and board member Marc Andreessen, former COO Sheryl Sandberg, and others accountable for the company's massive legal costs, primarily the $5 billion fine imposed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2019. That fine followed revelations about Facebook's failure to comply with a 2012 agreement to protect user Shareholders alleged that top executives ignored the company's legal obligations and ran Facebook as an illegal data-gathering operation. The case was based on Caremark claims, a rare and difficult-to-prove legal standard in Delaware corporate law related to board oversight and Sandberg were expected to testify next week, along with other prominent former board members such as Peter Thiel and Reed Hastings. Sandberg was previously sanctioned for deleting emails during litigation, complicating her settling, the defendants avoid testifying under oath, while shareholders sidestep the challenge of proving complex corporate law claims. The case followed the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which user data was improperly accessed for political advertising during the 2016 US presidential reported by Reuters, Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, criticised the settlement, saying it denied the public a chance at accountability. 'Facebook has reframed the Cambridge Analytica scandal as a few bad actors, avoiding deeper scrutiny of its surveillance-based business model,' he said. Meta has not commented on the settlement.- EndsTrending Reel
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta investors, Zuckerberg reach settlement to end $8 billion trial over Facebook privacy violations
By Tom Hals WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) -Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms agreed on Thursday to settle claims seeking $8 billion for the damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users' privacy, a lawyer for the shareholders told a Delaware judge on Thursday. The parties did not disclose details of the settlement and defense lawyers did not address the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery. McCormick adjourned the trial just as it was to enter its second day and she congratulated the parties. The plaintiffs' lawyer, Sam Closic, said the agreement just came together quickly. Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, a defendant in the trial and a Meta director, was scheduled to testify on Thursday. Shareholders of Meta sued Zuckerberg, Andreessen and other former company officials including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in hopes of holding them liable for billions of dollars in fines and legal costs the company paid in recent years. The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 after finding that it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement with the regulator to protect users' data. The shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. The defendants denied the allegations, which they called "extreme claims." Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021. The company was not a defendant and declined to comment. On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019. A lawyer for the defendants declined to comment. 'This settlement may bring relief to the parties involved, but it's a missed opportunity for public accountability," said Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers. Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand on Monday and Sandberg on Wednesday. The trial was scheduled to run through the end of next week. The case was also expected to include testimony from former Facebook board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies co-founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix. By settling, Zuckerberg and other defendants avoid having to answer probing questions under oath. Sandberg was found during the litigation to have deleted what were likely her most sensitive emails and she was sanctioned, making it harder for her to tell her side of the story in court. The settlement allows plaintiffs to avoid trying a very difficult case. Meta investors alleged that former and current board members completely failed to oversee the company's compliance with the 2012 FTC agreement. The lawsuit also claimed that Zuckerberg and Sandberg knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting operation. The oversight allegations are known as Caremark claims, considered the most difficult to prove under Delaware corporate law. It was the first time Caremark claims went to trial, and even if the plaintiffs had gotten a judgment in their favor, the case would have been appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court. That court has reversed major shareholder victories in recent years. The case followed revelations that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump's successful U.S. presidential campaign in 2016. Those revelations led to the FTC fine, which was a record at the time. On Wednesday, an expert witness for the plaintiffs testified about what he called "gaps and weaknesses" in Facebook's privacy policies but would not say if the company violated the 2012 agreement that Facebook reached with the FTC. Jeffrey Zients, a former board member, testified on Wednesday that the company did not agree to the FTC fine to spare Zuckerberg legal liability, as shareholders alleged. The defendants' legal team also showed the court notes that Zients had taken when he was on the board that seemed to show he was urging the board to make user privacy a top priority, which would undercut plaintiffs' claims. The trial settlement marks the second time Zuckerberg avoided testifying in the court. In 2017, Facebook abandoned a plan to issue a new class of stock as a way for Zuckerberg to extend his control over the company while selling his shares. The decision came a week before Zuckerberg was expected to testify in the Court of Chancery to defend the stock plan. "Facebook has successfully remade the 'Cambridge Analytica' scandal about a few bad actors rather than an unraveling of its entire business model of surveillance capitalism and the reciprocal, unbridled sharing of personal data," Kint said. "That reckoning is now left unresolved."
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Meta, Zuckerberg settle over Facebook privacy violation
Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms have agreed to settle multi-billion dollar claims for the damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users' privacy, a lawyer for the shareholders told a Delaware judge. The shareholders had been seeking $US8 billion ($A12 billion) in claims. The parties did not disclose details of the settlement and defence lawyers did not address the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery. McCormick adjourned the trial just as it was to enter its second day and she congratulated the parties. The plaintiffs' lawyer, Sam Closic, said the agreement just came together quickly. Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, a defendant in the trial and a Meta director, was scheduled to testify on Thursday. Shareholders of Meta sued Zuckerberg, Andreessen and other former company officials including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in hopes of holding them liable for billions of dollars in fines and legal costs the company paid in recent years. The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $US5 billion ($A7.7 billion) in 2019 after finding that it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement with the regulator to protect users' data. The shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. The defendants denied the allegations, which they called "extreme claims." Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021. The company was not a defendant and declined to comment. On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019. A lawyer for the defendants declined to comment. "This settlement may bring relief to the parties involved, but it's a missed opportunity for public accountability," said Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers. Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand on Monday and Sandberg on Wednesday. The trial was scheduled to run through the end of next week. The case was also expected to include testimony from former Facebook board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies co-founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix . By settling, Zuckerberg and other defendants avoid having to answer probing questions under oath. Sandberg was found during the litigation to have deleted what were likely her most sensitive emails and she was sanctioned, making it harder for her to tell her side of the story in court. The settlement allows plaintiffs to avoid trying a very difficult case. Meta investors alleged that former and current board members completely failed to oversee the company's compliance with the 2012 FTC agreement. The lawsuit also claimed that Zuckerberg and Sandberg knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting operation.
